You love the runner’s high, chiseled physique, steady energy, knock-out sleep, and that alluring post-workout glow. And, sure, there’s always the extraordinary cardiovascular benefit, cancer deterrent, anti-inflammatory impact, and age reversal effect. If that isn’t enough congratulations for your fitness endeavors, here’s more. Physical activity helps fortify your brain as well as your muscles. Yes, exercise goes to your head in dramatically healthy ways – throughout the course of a lifetime. Let’s examine.
Changing the Brain
Exercise supports the brain in a number of ways. Most obviously, exercise increases blood flow to the brain, which provides more oxygen and energy but also reduces free radical damage and enhances memory. Researchers also know that exercise stimulates the creation of new neurons and the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a chemical that is instrumental in neuron preservation and formation. And then there’s the impact on gene expression (always a favorite of mine). Exercise […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

<p>The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training/circuit training. What you are doing is taking an exercise we'll use sprints as an example here.</p>
<p>Sprint as hard as you can for <strong>20 seconds</strong></p>
<p>Walk for <strong>10 seconds</strong></p>
<p>Repeat 7 more times for a total of <strong>8 sets</strong>.</p>
<p>So what you have is a total of <strong>4 minutes of workout time</strong>.</p>
<p>Tabata Training can be done with a number of different exercises the idea is to use an exercise that gets the whole body involved or at least the major muscle groups.Tabata Training can be done with Barbells, Dumbells, Kettlebells or just Bodyweight exercises. I'll give you some other exercises and routines to try in a minute but first let me give you some background and how Tabatas work.</p>
<p>Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. They did a study […]

Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

When it comes to weight loss and muscle building advice, there is a group of people you absolutely must NOT trust.
This group could include your best friend, family members or even trusted on-line fitness personalities.
And while they mean well…their advice can lead you disastrously astray.
This group is known as “The Early Adopters”
Have you ever heard something along the lines of:
Hey Jim, how’s that new workout you are trying?
Oh man, it’s AMAZING, the fat is practically MELTING off of me

If you answered yes, then you have met an Early Adopter.
Early Adopters are people who advise on how ‘awesome’ something is, they are only doing so  because it’s something NEW.
You are getting great feedback on the sole basis that the topic is NEW and EXCITING.
[You are also typically getting feedback that is exaggerated or even impossible based on the time lines…especially when it comes to muscle building. […]

Original post by Brad Pilon

Human evolution is usually described as a sequence of momentous changes or developments to our species. You’ve got the move from knuckle walking and tree dwelling to perpetual bipedalism that occurred a few million years back as perhaps the biggest step toward homo sapiens and away from the lower primates. There’s the big brain, too, as well as the tool making. Language acquisition, art, spirituality, and, yes, agriculture are other major milestones in our journey. These developments punctuated and defined our evolution, and they’ve come to define what it means to be human. What other animals walk upright all day long, manipulate and craft complex machinery, employ an over ten thousand-word verbal vocabulary, and shape the natural world around them?
Well, it’s probably time to augment our evolutionary CVs with yet another bullet point: the development of our unique shoulder joints.

As a recent NPR story highlighted, the human shoulder joint took […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

This is the last in a series of posts (Pushups, Pullups/Chinups, Squats, Overhead Presses) covering proper technique for the 5 Essential Movements of Primal Blueprint Fitness. Check back tomorrow when I’ll be covering the first of many ancillary movement patterns that will be featured in Workouts of the Week (WOW).
I don’t like situps, crunches, or most of their derivatives, as “core workouts.” Yeah, doing a ton of crunches day in and day out will get you perpetually sore abdominals, but that’s an improper usage of our torso. The core does not exist to contract or bend over and over again; it’s there to resist force. We need strong cores in order to maintain a stable torso while putting in work, whether it’s lifting heavy things, carrying a heavy load, or transferring power from our hips while throwing a punch or a ball. Having that stable, strong core with the capacity […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

Here’s a video of Andreaz, current nordic bodybuilding champ and client of mine, preparing for the national championsship in Athletic Fitness 2010. Andreaz does about half of his training fasted. Heavy compound movements predominantely, no pikachu-stuff. He’s about 6 weeks out here and strong as ever.

This is a new event for Andreaz and the demands are a bit different than bodybuilding. Performance is of a greater priority than perfecting the carb load and sodium/water manipulation in the final week. However, I’m confident that he will do very well.

And here’s a recent pic about 4 weeks out. As you can see his conditioning is on point.

//

Original post by noreply@blogger.com (Martin Berkhan)

Weight management is huge issue – even an obsession – in modern culture. Ironically, it’s a booming industry, yet one that has produced widespread dismal failure for decades – even with ever-greater attention, awareness, and education about healthy living and reducing disease risk. Since the inception of MDA, and particularly in recent months after the release of the Primal Blueprint, I’ve noticed just how important, complex, frustrating, and confusing the issue of weight loss is, even to devoted diet and fitness enthusiasts trying to do the right thing.
The Primal Leap is my aggressive response to making things right when it comes to weight loss. My team and I have prepared perhaps the most detailed and comprehensive 30-day course available anywhere, bringing an intense focus and detailed guidance to implementing the Primal Blueprint principles specifically for weight loss.
The Primal Leap kit is a comprehensive package of multimedia materials and Internet resources, […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

<p>The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training/circuit training. What you are doing is taking an exercise we'll use sprints as an example here.</p>
<p>Sprint as hard as you can for <strong>20 seconds</strong></p>
<p>Walk for <strong>10 seconds</strong></p>
<p>Repeat 7 more times for a total of <strong>8 sets</strong>.</p>
<p>So what you have is a total of <strong>4 minutes of workout time</strong>.</p>
<p>Tabata Training can be done with a number of different exercises the idea is to use an exercise that gets the whole body involved or at least the major muscle groups.Tabata Training can be done with Barbells, Dumbells, Kettlebells or just Bodyweight exercises. I'll give you some other exercises and routines to try in a minute but first let me give you some background and how Tabatas work.</p>
<p>Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. They did a study […]

Original post by WP-AutoBlog Import

I am pleased to announce the inaugural Workout of the Week (WOW). Before we get to the workout, first an explanation…
What is a WOW?
In short, WOWs will test your agility, balance, coordination, endurance, speed and strength. They’ll periodically incorporate Sprinting and Moving Slowly, but will usually emphasize Lifting Heavy Things. Expect to see variations of the 5 Essential Movements (e.g. lunges, dips, rows, kippings, burpees etc.), plyometrics, and HIIT (both time and task priority). WOWs will often ask you to use added weight. In most cases, the kind (sandbag, kettlebell, dumbbell, slosh tube, plate, etc.) and amount (5 lbs, 20 lbs, 50 lbs, etc.) will be up to you. Thus, I generally recommend that you master the 5 Essential Movements of PBF Lift Heavy Things before attempting WOWs, and then using WOWs in place of one or both of your regular PBF LHT days each week.

Anything goes for WOWs, including […]

Original post by Mark Sisson

A lot has been said about the metabolism boosting effects of exercise.
The general theory is that by exercising you increase your muscle mass and your metabolic rate to a point where you can actually lose weight without eating less.
Unfortunately this theory has been met by considerable roadblocks when put to the test of clinical research.
To begin with, every extra pound of muscle you build burns an extra 5-6 Calories per day.
So even adding an extra 10 pounds of muscle would only increase your Resting Metabolic Rate by about 60 Calories.
This fact alone seems to limit the ‘muscle boosting metabolism’ theory, as most of us aren’t going to add 40 pounds of muscle to our frames, and even if we did the extra ‘burn’ would account for roughly 250 Calories…less calories than in a Snickers Bar.
The theory that exercise can increase your […]

Original post by Brad Pilon